JAMMU: The recruitment scam relating to 37 illegal/backdoor appointments in J&K Legislative Assembly Wednesday took a new turn when the whistleblower Prof. S.K. Bhalla moved an application before the J&K State Vigilance Commission (SVC) seeking appropriate directions to the IGP State Vigilance Organization with regard to the referring of the matter of 37 illegal appointments to the GAD for obtaining opinion from the Law Department in utter breach of the mandate of the J&K State Vigilance Commission Act, 2011 read with the J&K State Vigilance Commission Rules, 2013.
The State Vigilance Commission headed by its Chief Vigilance Commissioner Kuldeep Khoda (IPS) in a significant order after hearing Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed appearing for the petitioner directed the IGP State Vigilance Organization Jammu to respond to the application moved by Prof. S.K. Bhalla highlighting breach of the J&K State Vigilance Commission Act, 2011 and the rules made thereunder while referring the matter to the GAD for obtaining opinion of the Law Department.
Advocate Ahmed submitted that State Vigilance Commission is a creation of J&K State Vigilance Commission Act, 2011 and was formed on the pattern of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to supervise the functioning of State Vigilance Organization and to monitor the progress of various FIRs/preliminary enquiries/secret/open verifications and joint surprise checks so that the corrupt are nailed in State of J&K.
Advocate S.S. Ahmed according to CNS further submitted that Rules 19 to 24 of the J&K State Vigilance Commission Rules, 2013 provide complete mechanism for superintendence over Vigilance Organization and supervision of FIRs/Preliminary Enquiries by the State Vigilance Commission and it is incumbent upon SVO to inform the State Vigilance Commission about the progress in FIRs/Preliminary Enquiries at various stages for advice/ guidance in order to bring the investigation and inquiries to a logical conclusion.
He vociferously argued that the IGP Vigilance informed the State High Court in July, 2015 that the preliminary enquiry with regard to 37 appointments have been finalized as per the directions of the State High Court and on December, 3, 2015 the High Court granted two weeks time to the IGP SVO to take a final call in the matter.
Advocate S.S. Ahmed further submitted that as per the spirit of J&K State Vigilance Commission Act, 2011 and the rules made thereunder, it was incumbent upon IGP Vigilance to seek advice/guidance from the SVC which is an Apex supervisory institution created by the State Legislature but a novel method was devised by the IGP SVO by referring the matter to the GAD for obtaining the opinion of the Law Department in the matter while taking refuge in Vigilance manual.
Advocate S.S. Ahmed further submitted that the Vigilance manual lacks statutory flavour and IGP Vigilance bypassed State Vigilance Commission which was the appropriate authority for seeking advice/guidance in the matter. He further referred to the Judgments of the Apex Court which have held that CBI manual lacks statutory flavour and cannot bypass the substantive law. He further submitted that SVO is hell bent to shield the high profile three former Speakers and the Secretary J&K Legislative Assembly who are knee deep involved in the recruitment scam as the SVO has already established that no procedure was followed while making 37 appointments and the appointments were made on pick and choose basis without issuing any advertisement in the leading dailies of the State.
Advocate S.S. Ahmed further submitted that matter has been intentionally referred to GAD for ensuring safe passage to the high profile big sharks as there was no occasion for the IGP Vigilance to obtain legal opinion in the matter when the findings of the preliminary enquiry were pointing towards the commission of a cognizable offence by the three former speakers in league with the Secretary J&K Legislative Assembly. He further submitted that action is warranted against the officers of the SVO who bypassed SVC by taking refuge in Vigilance manual which has no constitutional/statutory sanction particularly after the coming into force of State Vigilance Commission Act, 2011 which created State Vigilance Commission.
After hearing Advocate S.S. Ahmed at length, the State Vigilance Commission headed by its Chief Vigilance Commissioner Kuldeep Khoda in a significant order directed the IGP State Vigilance Organization to respond to the application moved by Prof. S.K. Bhalla highlighting breach of the J&K State Vigilance Commission Act, 2011 and the rules made there under while referring the matter to the GAD for obtaining opinion of the Law Department. Looking into the importance of the issue the SVC fixed January, 25, 2016 as next date of hearing for considering the matter again. (CNS)
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